TWO OF THE NICEST guys in the world left us recently, and despite the great pain the rally community suffered from their loss, we've a lot of fond memories of how the pair of them briefly brightened our lives. John Woolf and Grant Whittaker, both from New Zealand and both just 26 years old, died instantaneously when their rally car collided head-on with another vehicle. The accident occurred Memorial Day weekend when they were running first-on-the-road at the Chisum Trail Rally in Oklahoma on a special stage that had just been checked for non-competing traffic. The other driver and his two passengers escaped with bruises and lacerations. Rally workers, they had somehow become lost on the way to their assigned position, and driven onto the stage by mistake from an obscure side road not shown on area maps.
Woolf and Whittaker made their first competition appearance in the U.S. in April of 1980, getting off to a fine start by winning the Golden West Rally in their Mazda RX-3. Having grown up together in the same neighborhood in Auckland, they had been a team since 1975, when they took up the sport in earnest. That year they started 90th and last in the Heat Way International Rally, a week-long, 3000 mile event, and finished sixth overall. In 1977 they again took a sixth in the New Zealand round of the World Rally Championship, just behind fellow Aucklander Rod Millen, after stopping to give him assistance in one of the special stages. John was fourth in the '78 International Rally, and captured the National Championship in the four-event Coca-Cola Rallycross series, successfully defending his title the following year. He and Grant led the New Zealand Rally Championship until the last special stage of the final round, when retirement took victory and the championship from their grasp.
Feeling their horizons were somewhat limited "down under," Grant and John packed up their RX-3 rally car and boarded a plane for the States. They were an instant success not only in competition, but socially as well, making friends with disarming ease. Their first win in the SCCA PRO Rally series came at the Susquehannock Trail in Wellsboro, Pa., June 7, 1980. John wound up the year ranked third - behind Buffum and Millen - in the SCCA championship. For '81 the two Kiwis switched to a new RX-7 prepared by Woolf himself with the assistance of team mechanic Paul Ludgate. Once again Woolf and Whittaker won in Pennsylvania, and together with a trio of second places, two thirds and two fifths, this gave them the runner-up position for the national title.
Despite his success with Mazda, that company could provide little more than moral support for Woolf's endeavors, so for '82 he accepted an Offer from Peugeot to campaign one of the ex-works 504 V6 coupes, specifically the car that Buffum had driven the previous year. We all wondered if John was taking a step backwards, for the larger car was certainly not the equal of his RX-7, but there was more to it than that. Woolf had been given a green light to rebuild a similar car to his own specifications, and he set to work with customary enthusiasm. He lightened it up considerably, had substantially improved the performance by means of some skillful engine modifications, and was "that close" to having it all finished by the Chisum Trail. Instead he drove the older car...
John had recently married. His pretty wife Carol last saw him at a service break during the event where she gave him a big smile and a few words of encouragement, for she was a loyal fan and constant companion. Grant's parents arrived in the States that very day, on a holiday trip, but it was destined instead to become the saddest of occasions. Our deepest sympathies to them and to John's parents back in New Zealand. Their collective loss is incalculable. The two lads leave behind dozens of true friends for they were instantly liked wherever they travelled. They always had time to chat regardless of the circumstances, and the momentary frowns when something would go wrong with the rally car never lingered very long. It was this rare quality that made them so popular, and that will ensure them a special kind of immortality. Vaya con Dios, fellas, you made the world a better place while you were here.
The CHISUM TRAIL was called to a halt shortly after the fatal accident involving John Woolf and Grant Whittaker. A total of four stages had been run up to that point, not counting the two scrubbed due to high water. Subsequently, the SCCA Rally Board chose to consider it a non-event out of respect for the two Kiwis. This seemed to reflect the prevailing sentiment among the other participants at the time, understandably upset as they were. Many packed up and left as soon as possible, others stood around in quiet little groups in the parking lot of the headquarters motel most of that long and painful night.
Curiously, the SCCA PRO Rally Rules make no provision for a premature termination, although the FIA takes the position that "if less than two-thirds of a (world championship) event" has been run, "only half points will be granted." Although fatal accidents are indeed rare in rallying (this was the first in nine years of the SCCA series), weather conditions or other reasons may require termination before the completion of the event, and some provision should be made for this possibility.
Many teams travelled a great many miles to the Chisum Trail, and it is not unreasonable to feel they should receive at least partial points for their efforts. It was certainly shaping up to be a hard-fought event, most particularly in the Production Class, which had an especially good entry. Canadian Niall Leslie had moved into the lead after SS5 with his Datsun 200SX, followed closely by Gary Eaton's Peugeot and Gene Henderson's Eagle SX-4. In the Open Class Rod Millen had opened up the scantest of leads with his RX-7 over John Buffum's near-invincible Audi Quattro. Woolf was running third in the Peugeot, just three hundredths ahead of Jon Woodner's Datsun. It had all the ingredients of a classic confrontation between top-notch competitors. Despite the tragedy the rally should not go unrecorded in the archives. I'm sure the Kiwis would agree.
Article: Cam Warren
On Track July 1, 1982
Photo: Bob Fischer
On Track June 17, 1982